Outgoing Thurston County Commissioner Bud Blake recently sat down with the Nisqually Valley News about his tenure on the board.
Outgoing Thurston County Commissioner Bud Blake is hoping the board keeps its nonpartisan track-record following his loss to a Democratic candidate this past midterm.
The one-term commissioner lost to Democratic challenger Tye Menser in the November midterm election by less than a thousand votes. Menser held a razor-thin lead on Blake that seemed to only narrow as the election went on.
At the end, the votes would tally 50.37 percent for Menser and 49.63 percent for Blake. Blake would concede to Menser in a Nov. 19 Facebook post.
Looking back, Blake said he felt his time has been impactful for both him and his community. He hopes people will remember him for being firm, yet fair.
Blake came into office in 2015 as an army veteran with no elected experience and intentions of further funding law enforcement. He said he also wanted to give more representation to the unincorporated areas and smaller towns.
“I don’t like hardcore (Republicans or Democrats), to be honest with you. But nonetheless, having that moderate voice there is a good thing,” Blake said. He aligns independently because of his time in the military, he said.
During his time in the military, Blake said he helped work on a $2 billion military weapons project, an experience which he said influenced his fiscal views during his time as commissioner.
“You don’t miss a penny in the military,” he said.
Blake’s goal was to be the balance to the two other then Democrat commissioners, Cathy Wolfe and Sandra Romero, he said.
Blake said Romero and Wolfe often voted him down on expanding funding for additional corrections officers and law enforcement for a rising population. He was eventually able to pass funding for more officers, he said, but it was tough.
“With a larger population, you need to have more deputy sheriffs,” Blake said.
As county commissioners John Hutchings and Gary Edwards took office in the subsequent years, Blake said he was able to strike a more equitable balance with collaboration, even though they don’t always agree on the same things.
Some of his most admired accomplishments while in office have been expanding funding for county law enforcement, mitigating inadequate capital and funding rehabilitation efforts for the Mazama pocket gophers and expanding county mental health resources.
Menser will serve a four-year term beginning this January.
Blake said he’s not sure at the moment if he’ll end up running for public office again. It’s something he’s thought about and that he’ll need some time to ponder.
